Yuniesky Betancourt

Yuniesky Betancourt
Betancourt with the Kansas City Royals in 2009
Shortstop
Born: (1982-01-31) January 31, 1982 (age 35) Santa Clara, Cuba
Batted: Right Threw: Right
Professional debut
MLB: July 28, 2005, for the Seattle Mariners
NPB: March 28, 2014, for the Orix Buffaloes
Last appearance
MLB: September 29, 2013, for the Milwaukee Brewers
NPB: May 14, 2014, for the Orix Buffaloes
MLB statistics
Batting average	.261
Home runs	80
Runs batted in	457
NPB statistics
Batting average	.141
Runs batted in	4
Teams
Seattle Mariners (2005–2009) Kansas City Royals (2009–2010) Milwaukee Brewers (2011) Kansas City Royals (2012) Milwaukee Brewers (2013) Orix Buffaloes (2014)

Yuniesky Betancourt Pérez (born January 31, 1982) is a Cuban former professional baseball shortstop. Betancourt has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, and Kansas City Royals. He played in the Cuban National Series for Villa Clara before he defected from Cuba.

His early career was spent in the Cuban leagues, including Villa Clara of the Serie Nacional. He was considered the fastest second baseman in the Cuban leagues and the star of the Villa Clara team. In the finals against the Industriales in 2002, he got a hit in nearly every at bat, though the Industriales won, 4 games to 0. He left Cuba on a speedboat in December 2003 and ended up in Mexico, where he played for a while before signing with Seattle Mariners scouts Bob Engle and Patrick Guerrero on January 26, 2005. He made his major league debut on July 28, 2005.

Betancourt's initial calling card had been his fielding. In his first few seasons, he had been considered one of the best fielders in the game, combining excellent range, quickness, soft hands, hand-eye coordination, and a strong, accurate throwing arm. He was named one of the top fielders in baseball in a 2006 online fan's poll. In 2007, he made many good fielding plays; however, he suffered through spells of throwing wildness that season. Bad throws accounted for most of his 18 errors in the first half of 2007, almost as many as his 2006 total of 20. He turned things around and made only 5 errors in the second half of 2007. His defense suffered in 2008, with several fielding metrics calling him one of the worst shortstops in baseball.